Opinions Are Not Wrong (and That’s a Fact)

by ChrisBartlett

Gamers have gotten angry over reviews for as long as I can remember. The argument has been made time and time again that reviews are simply opinions, and I think most people understand that at this point. The problem is that people think other people’s opinions can be wrong, and that’s simply not the case. The rage over opinions has grown much larger than just hate for reviewers. People who comment on video game reviews or other articles and state their opinions are attacked by people who disagree with them and seem to believe that their opinion is the only valid one.

Let’s talk about what an opinion is. An opinion is what someone thinks or feels. It’s a judgement brought about by personal experiences and taste. We’re here to talk about games, so lets take an example from the gaming world. If someone says “The Xbox One is better than the PS4,” they’re not wrong. It’s a controversial opinion, but it is still an opinion and people’s opinions are their own. Someone who says “The PS4 is better than the Xbox One” is equally correct because that’s how opinions work. Neither person is wrong. Everyone has opinions on things and just because you don’t like that opinion doesn’t mean it’s not valid.

Now, lets talk about what an opinion is not. An opinion is not a factual assertion. If someone says “The Xbox One is more graphically powerful than the PS4″, that is a factual assertion (and to my knowledge, an incorrect one). Please, feel free to tell people who are making factual assertions that they are wrong (if they are indeed wrong), but even then it’s best to be kind about it. Note that adding “in my opinion” to a factual assertion does not make it an opinion, nor is “in my opinion” mandatory in order to state an opinion.

Look, I’m not here to sing “Kumbaya” and magically make us all friends. We’re all going to disagree with each other at some point and sometimes we’ll have heated arguments over those disagreements, it’s just human nature. All I ask is that you recognize the difference between an opinion and a fact and never tell someone that their opinion is false. because opinions can’t be false. It makes us sound childish and brings the argument down to less sophisticated level. Let’s try to keep it classy gamers!